Hello All,

It's Saturday night and I am sitting down to a nice Rum and Coke courtesy of the fine people who work at the Mount Gay factory in the Barbados. I friend of mine has a line on their Extra Old line and will bring in some bottles now and again. Not much of a drinker - but like all good Canadians, I enjoy the taste of a fine beverage just before our National holiday.

At a BBQ tonight, the topic of Noront came up as it sometimes does. The same people who called me crazy owning the stock when it dropped from $1.07 to .29 cents wish they owned it when it went from .40 cents to $7.00. I was one of those lucky people who got a tip "from a friend". A person who knew a guy who had a million shares and was hearing good things out of Val D'or, Quebec. Urban legends are made of these background people. I likely would not be in Noront today if it were not for a complete stranger on a different board who somehow was able to predict Noront's news releases a day or two before they were released. He was a perfect 3 for 3 in November concerning NOT's Hungary, Mexico, and Windfall Lake property news releases so he gained cred amonst us NOT holders (cred he later lost when his predictions on other companies led people down a path of loss).

It took two "tipsters" to build my confidence with this stock. All we had back then was word of mouth promsing hope. Then an extremely good bonanza grade drill result. 52 ounces of Gold per tonne over 4.8 metres and 22.5 million in the back from the accompanying private placement. A promise of a ramp to be built at Windfall and continued drilling at a few other properties. Double Eagle was originally a minor news release as Noront had optioned it from a company in the spring of 2007. They had some properties in Mexico, one in China, and a few others here and there. But we all knew Windfall was a dream. A group of us committed to waiting for the ramp and the results of Windfall Lake.

Were we investors or speculators? I believe their is no difference. It is all about a person's tolerance for risk. Afraid of losing money and wanting a 3% return on investment, a safe investor will buy a GIC. They are guaranteed a return. But they are also speculators. They are speculating that inflation will stay at 2% so that they can see a 1% gross increase in their holdings.

Then there are those who will accept more risk. Say in a so-called Blue-Chip. This is where I believe 80% of investments are stored. Pension funds, retirement plans, those seeking the tax advantages of "dividends". You might see a return of 10 to 30 percent in a good year and a limited loss of 10 to 20 precent in a really bad year. But with DD and patience, these investments generally make money through increasing share capital value and the occasional cash payout (dividend). But these people are also speculators. They are speculating that the blue-chip's financial filings are true and legitimate. Anyone who invested in companies like WorldCom, Enron, or Bear Stearns know that even blue chips have risks. How long had Bear Stearns been in business? Longer than most on here have lived. And they were invested in mortgage backed securities, a normally lower spec and less risky investment option that until recently was at least desirable.

Then of course you have everything else. Juniors, bio companies, tech startups, currency trading, options, shorts, commodities, and everything inbetween. All require an investment in hopes of a return. Everything is speculative. And everything is an investment.

The question is what is the probability of making a return, the timing of that return, and the risk factors associated with holding the investment during the time it takes to see that return.

If large returns (1000% like Noront saw between 2006 and 2007) were the norm, we would have rampant inflation as we all went out to buy new toys with the profits. But because these are rare overall across a market (a look at the year to year TSX, NYSE, NASDAQ results will show this), the higher payoff is indicative of the higher risk involved in holding the stock.

Is Noront an investment or a speculative risk? Based on what I have said above, it is both. When you purchase shares, you are investing. When you decide to keep the shares for a minute, an hour, and even after a 10% increase or decrease, you are speculating. Speculating that your investment will improve or move ahead longterm as the company business plan is executed.

I work with risk everyday. I manage risk on behalf of a large organization. There are no sure things anywhere, which is why I have a team that focusses on examining risks and mitigating them wherever possible. We also believe in the concept of an acceptable level of risk. The risk is never eliminated, but the impact of the outcome of the risk if realized is less than the cost of completely eliminating the risk.

Does Noront have risk? Yes. Is investment in Noront risky? Of course. But what are the risks? And are they large or small in comparison to other investment opporunities. That is what every investor needs to analyze and answer for themselves. Here are a few risks that come to mind?

- Labor market conditions (availability of drillers, workers, geologists, ...)

- First Nations land rights

- Accuracy of lab assay results

- Integrity of Management and their committment to acting in the best interest of shareholders.

- The geologists analysis and finding about where the next drill hole should be.

- Market manipulators and unscrupulous naked shorters.

- National economic conditions, market confidence, interest rates, news media coverage, ...

- The market price of metals, gold, PGMs, ...

Look at the list above. It is just a short listing of all the risks that surround a company like Noront. Now take the name Noront out of this and add "ABC Pharmaceutical, ABC Technical, ABC Oil, ABC Hotels Chain." Some of the risk above hold true for any company.

Every investment involves some form of speculation.

Speculation is not guessing.

Speculation is the gap that exists between what is known and what is unknown in terms of the probability of a risk being realized and a negative event happening (like losing your investment).

Any person who invests a dollar in anything should have an understanding of the risk surrounding that investment before speculating on that investment. How?

By doing what is called due diligence. Understanding a company, researching their insider trading history, knowing who their key shareholders are, understanding the overall market they work in, their reputation in the investment community, their marketing and track record, and in the case of Noront, their past results.

Noront being an exploration company is judged by many things. Many companies have excellent results but no marketing experience. Some have just marketing and hooplah and no results. Others have such amazing results that without a good plan, the company could be taken over for cents on a future dollar.

Do you own Noront? Do they have a shareholders right plan (SRP)to protect you? Do you know when it was inacted and for how long it is in effect for? What the terms are?

When I first invested in Noront, I felt my investment was more at risk then because they did not have a SRP. 52 ounces of gold per tonne and completely open to takeover. But acting in the best interests of shareholders, Richard performed his duties and inacted a SRP. It was ratified in June 2007 btw.

This is just one example of where an investor evaluates one risk surrounding a company. In this case the risk of a hostile takeover. Where would we be after Double Eagle if a SRP was not in place. Could Noront have been bought out for $5 when the stock was trading at $.40 cents. It would have been a tempting vote for all of us at that moment. In some ways the rise to $7+ dollars buys us a new level for a future prospective owner to shoot for.

Many of us spend time on this board to gain information. Why? To continually evaluate if the speculative conditions (risks) surrounding our investment has changed. All of us need to do this. Last year's successes could be meaningless tomorrow if a current risk increases in probability or is realized. On the other hand, our exposure to such risks could be mininized when new information is available.

So to sum up my musing, you are all investors and all speculators. Some of you are hanging on for the ride, some for dear life, and some because somebody else evaluated the risk for you and presented you the cost/payoff probabilities.

One thing I do believe many on here hold true is that Noront has a very positive long-term ROI outlook compared to many others in their industry. They were named #1 mining company this year on the venture? How many on here have actually looked to see why?

Very few people invest to lose money. As of today, three days before Canada Day, I am confident in my investment with NOT in light of my other investing options and life economic balance. I had never lost faith in Noront during the time I chose not to hold the stock. I had lost faith in the market temporarily based on information I was receiving from the financial connections I have and knew it would impact Noront and all of my other investments.

But at these prices even the market risk factored in shows me at least that this was worth picking up at this time. Please know that the entire couple of months I did not own NOT, I was speculating that I still had time to get in. And I never for a day felt comfortable with that speculation as I knew the there was a high probability that more great results would appear. Results like visible gold in the muck coming out of the ramp. Where their is fire there is a higher probability of more fire (no pun intended in light of the ring of fire).

Years of good results at Windfall and consistent results on the first 20 holes (very small number in terms of an entire drilling program) show the fire is still bright.

I sleep well now being back in. Regardless of the price at the moment. As long as the risk I have evaluated at the current price point does not change, the future will be bright. Not because I wish or will it to be, but because of my and other's DD, the hard work being performed by all employed and contracted by Noront, and knowing that much larger hands felt this was a good buy at higher than $5 (based on six month volume analysis).

Have a great weekend all!

M1.